Futsal tournament in Swift Current this weekend

The Millar College of the Bible Edge mens and womens futsal teams will be hosting an Alberta Colleges Athletic League futsal tournament in Swift Current this weekend.

The ACAL futsal league includes the Ambrose University College Lions from Calgary, the Prairie Pilots from Three Hills, and the Olds College Broncos on both the mens and womens side this season.

The women will open the tournament on Friday at 5 p.m. against Ambrose. They will also play Olds at 10:15 a.m. Saturday and Prairie College at 3:15 p.m. to conclude the round robin event.

The men will play their first game on Friday at 8:45 p.m. against Ambrose. They will also play Olds on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. and Prairie at 5:45 p.m.

The Edge mens and womens teams were in Calgary last month for their first ever futsal tournament.

The men defeated Olds and lost to Prairie and Ambrose in their first futsal games. The women lost all three games in their introduction to futsal.

“Once we adjusted to the fustal rules they did well,” said Phil Ruten, who has been coaching soccer at Millar College for 19 years. “It is soccer still, but there are some interesting things about the futsal rules that we had to adjust to.”

Among the modified rules that the Edge had to adjust to were in-game timeouts, rules restricting passes back to the goalkeeper, a strict four-second time limit on the restart of play and a modified restart of play on balls that go out the goal line.

“I was actually really pleased with how they adjusted,” said Ruten. “We enjoyed it. It was a great experience and I think we will get better as we move on in the next two tournaments.”

The Edge will play the same teams this weekend in Swift Current that they faced in Calgary.

Though the Edge won just once in six attempts in Calgary, Ruten expects a better showing in Swift Current now that his teams have some experience with the rules of futsal.

“We are not out of our league playing against them. We would have to play our very best to beat Ambrose, they are the strongest team… We are not out of place with our men or the ladies either, although they will have a little harder time.”

All games this weekend will take place at the Swift Current Stockade and there will be no cost for spectators.